The future’s bright, the future’s blue

We take a look at what is going right at Goodison

On Sunday we saw Manchester City being ripped apart by Everton at Goodison Park, with the cash-rich Mancs now looking dead and buried in terms of overthrowing Chelsea and winning the Premier League title.

Four of Sunday’s starting 11 were under 24-years-old, but you wouldn’t have guessed it when seeing them dominate their more illustrious, and better paid, opponents in every department. Mason Holgate, who did show a rush of blood when being carded, academy graduate Tom Davies, Ross Barkley, who also came through the Goodison apprenticeship scheme, and Romelu Lukaku all fall into the category of wonderkids, hinting that the future is bright at Everton.

Blues building for the future

Sunday’s victory not only made headlines, it has Everton seventh in the table, with their last four wins including the scalps of Southampton, Arsenal and champions Leicester. With three of that four seeing them keep a clean sheet, it shows what Koeman is trying to achieve. Difficult to break down, with the legs to take teams apart on the counter-attack.

There’s still plenty of football to be played this season but, on recent efforts, it would be a brave punter who could put a line through Everton’s chances of a top-four finish, while a top-six would go some way to proving they’re here to stay.